Navigating Blackboard Open Content

Moving Between Blackboard Open Content and Blackboard Learn

You access Blackboard Open Content (formerly xpLor) through a course. You cannot access it directly.

To access Blackboard Open Content from a Blackboard course content area:

Navigate to a course content area.

Point to Build Content to access the drop-down list.

Select Blackboard Open Content Content.

To return to the Blackboard course from Blackboard Open Content, click the return to course link.

Blackboard Open Content Dashboard

The Blackboard Open Content Dashboard summarizes your activity and gives direct links to available actions within the system.

Review content counts and actions available to you.

Discover: Links to the main search interface, with options to automatically open the search page with filters for grade level or standard alignment applied. To learn more, see Discovery.

Create: Links to the create interface, with options to automatically open content editors for different resource types. To learn more, see Authoring.

My Content: Links to the main search interface limited to only content created by the current user, with options to automatically switch to published or draft resources. To learn more, see Discovery.

Course Content: Links to the main search interface limited to only Blackboard Open Content content associated with you, with options beneath to switch to other courses (if applicable). To learn more, see Discovery.

Channels: Links to the main channels search interface, with options to create a channel or switch to channels subscribed to or managed by current user. To learn more, see Discovery.

Navigating Resources

Resource Add Options

Hovering over a resource or collection reveals the ability to add the resource to various places. The Add button defaults to your last action. For example, if you last added a resource to a collection, clicking Add adds the new resource to the same collection. The icon on the Add button, identifies at-a-glance what the resource will be added to by default. Open the Add contextual menu to add to something else.

You can choose to:

Add the resource to a course (

)

Add the resource to a collection (

)

Add the resource to a channel (

)

Add the resource to favorites (

)

Download the resource as a Common Cartridge (

)

Generate a launch URL to the resource

Resource Preview and Toolbar

Click a resource title to preview the resource. From the resource toolbar you can add the resource to various places, see the resource settings in the About panel, see any version information, and see activity settings.

The following table describes the tools on the resource toolbar.

Resource Toolbar Functions

Tool

Description

Choose to complete the action listed.

About: Displays information about the resource and associated metadata. To learn more, see Authoring.

Version Info: Displays information about the resource author, copyright, usage of the resource within courses, collections, and channels, and older/newer version information. To learn more, see Versioning.

Configure: Displays course- and user-specific settings that determine how content is delivered to students. To learn more, see Delivery.